Well, I had a pretty awesome experience this past week.

Thanks to the efforts of a very good friend of mine (All love for you Mr. Jeff Munro) I got the chance to appear on the “Steve Katsos Show”, a venue used to showcase the arts in New England. It’s getting a lot of attention in the area and for good reason. It was an absolute pleasure to get to be on that set and share the stage with some talented people. Steve himself is incredibly funny, making things up off the cuff that are just hysterical.

All in all it was an amazing time. I had the chance to play 3 songs (all originals) as his musical guest for the week. They are posted up on YOUTube, so feel free to check them out below! The show itself will air in month or so. Please, check out Steves Website HERE. It’s some really great stuff that he’s doing.

VIDEOS:

The Only Air (COMING SOON)
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Drag You Under (COMING SOON)

A big thank you to Steve, Jeff, Michelle, Elizabeth, and everyone else who made it such a wonderful night. Hopefully I get the chance to go back and maybe lay down a little piano for them someday.

Take care,

Jon

There tends to be an amount of “sincerity” in country music that I’ve come to appreciate; lyrics that really get to the point of what the writer is trying to say.

I have no intention of singing a country song…no way I could pull it off….but it’s nice to have some different style’s of music to help with inspiration behind writing tunes.

I’m gonna start getting this stuff going again. Getting some gigs, maybe get a band together if I can. I played at the Lizard Lounge this past week and man did it feel good. Got some great videos from it that I posted on youtube.

Human Nature by Michael Jackson
Drag You Under

-Jon

In October – I had the opportunity to see David Lanz at the Regent Theater near Boston.

To sum it up, it was an incredible night. He unleashed some of his new songs, a series of piano instrumental Beetle cover songs…unbelievable.

On top of just a fantastic show and getting to meet and talk with him for the 2nd time in my life, he expressed a strong desire to come back and tour the Boston scene far more often – an announcement which resulted in thunderous applause from the audience.

All in all an amazing night, especially in that I got to share it with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law…the most important people in my life.

-Jon

PS – A shot of his Piano…

My friend Al, who I had met through playing a computer game and hadn’t seen since he and his buddies flew out to Boston some time ago for a big party, asked me to play at his wedding at the end of June.

It was an incredible time.   He and his fiancee flew me out to Michigan for the service, where I sat the piano for the duration of their ceremony and played a mixture of my own music, some David Lanz covers, and a few songs they wanted me to learn specifically for them (like the Glasglow Love Theme).   They even requested one of my songs, Charisma, be their “recessional” song (which fit in nicely).

However, it was after the service, when both of them came up to me in the midst of all the craziness  going on, and thanked me for coming to play for them, saying “this would not have been as special as it was without you here, we had to have you come play”.

That’s about as great a compliment  I have ever gotten.  To be a part of someone’s wedding is important in and of itself, but to see the sincerity in their eyes when they told me that, was an incredible feeling.

Thank you Emily and Al for giving me the chance to do this.  I wish you both nothing but the best.

-Jon

I decided to enter into a song competition, in which I was to play one of David Lanz’ songs and record a video for youtube.

He will be choosing a certain number of winners each getting various prizes (ranging from songbooks, CDs, to a one on one session with him).

This is my submission, one of my favorite pieces by him.  Rather simplistic, but incredibly beautiful.  I hope you enjoy it.

Feel free to click on my YOUTUBE name when you get to that page (or visit the links section of this site) as it has other songs I have posted on YouTube….and trust me there will be ALOT more to come!

Take care,
Jon

It’s been a bit since anything’s gone on, so I figured I’d throw an update here and let everyone know what’s going on.

Basically- I’ve kind of been M.I.A. for a bit due to some unfortunate luck.  I happened to total 2 cars over Nov and Dec. (one old, one a new one I got to replace the old one heh).  I came out fine with no injuries from both, so I’m quite lucky.  But, having no means of transportation severly cut into my ability to get out and play.  With that and money issues being on my mind over the past 2-3 months, I sort of halted really getting out there to do anything.

However – that’s changing now

I’m undertaking a new project.  Basically – as I’ve mentioned here and there, I’ve played a game called World of Warcraft over the past 3.5 years on and off.  In that time I wrote some pretty goofy songs about the game and topics that revolve around it.  Well people have heard them, like them, and time and again have requested I actually do a CD of all of this music.  For over 3 years I’ve put it off.  It’s time I cut the procrastination.

I have a good buddy who’s going to help me record stuff using his equipment…and if all goes well the end result will be a 10+ digital CD of these songs.  In the meantime however – I will be getting some videos on YOUTUBE of both my newer originals (that aren’t recorded at all yet and have only been performed live) as well as some of these “WoW related” songs.  Hopefully that’ll hold people over!

Also, I’m in the works of trying to get some regular piano lounge gigs in and around Boston.  Background music in a bar type things.  Hopefully those pan out and I’ll be out playing more regularly.

Oh – and I’m up to about 3 weeks having my lastest “new” car and no accidents…lets hope the streak continues

Take it easy everyone,

Jon

1677 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02148
Cost : $5 cover at the door

1677 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02148
Cost : $5 cover at the door

1677 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02148
Cost : $5  cover at the door